1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the invention relates to an electric vacuum cleaner wherein a suction device incorporating therein a rotary brush driven by a motor is used as a suction device for sucking dirt and dust from a surface to be cleaned.
2. Description of Related Art
The electric cleaner generally includes an electric cleaner body for generating suction force, and the suction device attached to the cleaner body by unit of hose and pipe. The suction device known in the art includes a suction port opposed to the surface to be cleaned and incorporates the rotary brush in the suction port.
The rotary brush of the suction device is prone to become tangled with hair, lint and the like in conjunction with a cleaning operation. A proposal for easily removing the hair, lint and the like tangled about the rotary brush has been made by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-133904 (1987), for example.
The proposal by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-133904 (1987) is to previously cover a periphery of the rotary brush with a scavenging bag so that the filamentous dust tangled about the rotary brush can be easily removed by removing the scavenging bag from the rotary brush.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 05-192277 (1993) has made another proposal that the rotary brush incorporated in the suction device is driven by a motor, and that whether the suction device is moved forwardly or backwardly is determined so as to change the rotational direction of the rotary brush.
Seeking to enhance the cleaning performance of the electric vacuum cleaner, the present applicants have already proposed an electric vacuum cleaner adapted for wipe off cleaning using a commercially available wet sheet (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-304954).
In another approach to enhance the cleaning performance of the electric vacuum cleaner, the present applicants have already proposed an electric vacuum cleaner adapted for wipe off cleaning using a commercially available paper sheet such as paper towel (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-222739).
In a case where the proposal by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-133904 (1987) is adopted for the removal of the hair, lint and the like tangled about the rotary brush, a user must periodically take the time to perform a manual operation of removing the scavenging bag. This is troublesome.
In a case where the rotary brush is driven by the motor, the rotational direction thereof can be switched from one direction to the other. However, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 05-192277 (1993) does not suggest that the hair, lint and the like tangled about the rotary brush can be removed by switching the rotation of the rotary brush between the two directions.
The arrangement disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-304954 permits the wipe off cleaning using the wet sheet. However, the arrangement of this patent document has a problem that the suction device is increased in size because the device comprises a roller only for winding the wet sheet thereabout.
The arrangement disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-222739 permits the wipe off cleaning using the paper sheet. However, this arrangement has a problem that a soiled sheet must be manually removed after the wipe off cleaning is finished, which causes discomfort to the user.